Good points in this vid. It is funny how peoples experience with pens can differ. I have two modern Parker 51 pens that are really good, not as good as my vintage 51 though. On the other hand I hated my 3776.
What I've learned about "grails" after numerous years in several collecting hobbies is that your true grail will pick you, not the other way around. Often times your true grail ends up NOT being the one you expected it to be. For instances I've drooled over and even purchased many of my "grails," some of which were quite pricey, yet what ended up actually being the pen I love and use the most is a $100 Kaweco Special with a BB nib..... it is THE perfect pen for me even though it's wildly different than what I had always gone after in my other "grails." It hasn't ENDED my collecting but it has completely reduced my new acquisitions down to like maybe once every couple of years just to try out something new and interesting, yet the Kaweco Special remains my VIP.
Im going through the same phase - most of the grail pens turned out to be grail pens for other people and it will be different for me. And the funny thing some of my old pens that were meh right away turned out to be great all of a sudden. Turned out it’s a matter of comparison and experience with pens. Some pens remained shit regardless but some (like the lamy) showed me something that I haven’t seen there before
I gave up on the idea of a grail pen. I bought a Lami Safari, a TWSBI Eco, a TWSBI Eco T, and then a TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR. All of them in extra fine.. I think I finally found a pen I'm happy with in the Diamond 580. I don't see the need to get any more.
@@twms7654 The only thing I don't like about the Safari is the converter dries up too soon. That issue is why I switched over to an internal piston pen... the Diamond 580 in particular. Not only can the piston assembly be removed for maintenance, but the grip section can be unscrewed to allow filling with an ink syringe when the bottle gets too low for standard filling methods. That and the cap screws on and seals very well so the nib stays wet longer. I've never had any hard starting even after a month of it sitting unused.
Grail pen is definitely more related to aesthetics than writing. We all have daily drivers that are cheaper and love using because they're just more useful pens, but still want that beautiful urushi lacquer Nakaya to baby and write at home with.
Heh the tablecloth made me think this was an atomic shrimp video. Little did I know alfieasthetic was also into pens. Anyway I'm not even interested in pens but it was a neat video, thanks.
The Parker 51 (original), is miles and miles better than the re-incarnation in the video. I have 4 of them, B,M and F versions of the Aerometric. For my daily diary, I use the P51 M/B version - for diary purposes, it is even better than a Montblanc which I sometimes use for one very good reason - the ink dries up so fast and therefore does not mess up other pages. I have yet to find another such pen. The Lamy 2000 I got a few years ago and practically never used again. A bit too wet I suppose.
Yh the new parker 51 is so shoddy, and I have an original in my sights to buy so I can compare, especially as I've heard nothing but praise about the original. What is the F like?
@@twms7654 Being a pen collector of the last 35 years, I found the Diplomat Excellence A2 which I bought a few months ago outstanding, having seen plenty of reviews about it. The distinctive feature is the clip cap - the best I have ever seen in any pen. Extremely pleasing. Other than that, it is a very good writer. They retail for around £170 or something from the premium websites but I did manage to get one from ebay for half that price, brand new. I have two - one in black and one in skyline blue which is stunning. Give it a go.
I own about 20 pens now and the truth I really can’t admit is that my favorite writer is still the first „expensive” pen I bought which is the diplomat aero with a fine steel nib.
@@tramzone The Aero and Excellence have the same nib - no 6 I believe- and it is just a matter of choice. Personally, I find the Excellence much more professional looking.
